‘Jews and Baseball’ one of 21st annual film fest’s highlights

According to the trailer for the film “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story,” which is showing at AFI on Sunday as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival, approximately 16,700 people have played Major League Baseball, of whom 160 have been Jews. “Jews and Baseball” doesn’t try to highlight every one of these players, but focuses more on the larger effect that the Jewish people have had on baseball, as well as the effect that baseball has had on the Jewish people.

“This is a story about Jews, and this is a story about baseball, but it really is a story about a people coming of age in America,” said director Peter Miller, whose award-winning documentary work includes 2007’s “Sacco and Vanzetti.”

“It’s a story of a once-marginalized immigrant group finding its way into the American mainstream through America’s most iconic institution, which is baseball,” he said.

“Jews and Baseball” dates back to the earliest days of the game. The narrative of the film is that of a people trying to assimilate through the American pastime while overcoming anti-Semitism and other biases.

“I felt that I wanted to say something about America,” Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and former New York Times sports columnist Ira Berkow, who wrote the film, said. “The idea was to portray an ethnic group attempting to assimilate into America through the focus of baseball.”

Highlights include a long look at American League Most Valuable Player Hank Greenberg and his struggles with Depression-era anti-Semitism; the Cleveland Indians’ “Hebrew Hammer” Al Rosen; and Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. A sit-down interview with Koufax is especially rewarding.

More modern players such as Shawn Green and Kevin Youkilis are also highlighted, as is one-time Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Marvin Miller, who helped usher in the era of free agency.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, many Jewish players changed their names because of anti-Semitism. Miller sees “Jews and Baseball” as casting a look at the evolution of America and how attitudes have turned around.

“I think it’s a positive sign that if we look around the landscape now, we’ve got three Jews playing in the all-star game at any given year, and nobody makes a fuss about it,” Miller said.

The idea for “Jews and Baseball” came from producer William Hechter, who first contacted Ken Burns (“Baseball,” “The Civil War”) to make the film. Burns passed but recommended Miller for the project. Berkow was also recruited.

Miller found the biggest challenge was taking 160 Jewish ballplayers in the history of the game and narrowing those stories down to a 90-minute film.

“This is a story that has to confront stereotypes,” Miller said. “It has to confront the idea that people think that Jews are not athletic, that Jews weren’t involve in sports. One of the things that I think surprised me in learning about this story was just how many great Jewish ballplayers there have been.”